From what I saw the only competition should be from the local bear thats been poking around. I've got exclusive access to 2 properties totaling 20 acres that haven't been hunted in a least 4-5 years.

Of course there could always be some trespassers but it would be a bold move given the size of the properties, limited access points, and proximity to the houses. Also bow hunters need special permits issued by the local police department and they have to have signed copies of land owner permission forms that are provided by the local police department. If I run into anyone out there legal action should be fairly easy as the entire hunt is conducted by the local police. I also need to register any deer taken with them along with the DNR.

Friday: I was in the stand by 6:15am and was met by high winds, lingering rain, and cold temps. It rained all night long so everything was soaking wet on the walk out. I stayed in stand until 9am when I gave up to go in and get dry and warmed up. The wind was absolutely brutal with sustained winds at 20mph and gusts over 30. I had my daughter along for the weekend so I spent the rest of the morning playing with her. We had a tea party in the play house with me still decked out in all my camo gear and with my face still painted in camo paint. I went back out and hunted from 2-7ish and didn't see a thing. Spent the afternoon getting blown around in the tree. The tree was swaying so much I was starting to get motion sickness after awhile.

Saturday: Better conditions and warmer temps on Saturday. Hunted a different area on the neighbors land in a ground blind. Set up down wind of a very well worn trail that skirts around a wetland area. At 8am I heard a twig snap and I slowly turned my head to look out the other side of the blind and had a big doe standing broadside 10 feet from my blind. With the wind and having to have a stocking cap over my ears I didn't hear her come in. She came in from a totally unexpected direction and was just about to get down wind of me. I slowly moved to get my bow up but she already knew something wasn't right. I got my bow up and at about half draw she turned around and gave a gave hop and walked back where she came from. She didn't really know I was there but knew she didn't like something about the situation. She never got fully down wind of me but something told her to get out of there. Not sure how I could have played it differently other than to have my blind in a better spot. After I left for the morning I looked at what brought her from that direction and there was a faint secondary trail that i hadn't seen before. So I moved the blind to hunt both the secondary trail and the main trail for the afternoon. It gave me better visibility and set me up better for the wind. I hunted from 1-7pm later in the day but didn't get any more visitors.

I ended up not being able to hunt sunday so went home late Saturday night. All in all it was still a fun trip except for the cold and wind on Friday. I was able to get my first mistake out of the way and learn a few things and got the thrill of being 10 feet from my intended target. Also got to expose my 3 year old daughter to hunting. Each time I came back in she'd run up and ask "Daddy, did you catch a deer"? On Saturday I set up a ground blind on the edge of the yard over looking the apple trees and she came out and "hunted" with me for a few minutes since she had been asking to go out with me all weekend. I painted her face with camo paint and gave her a toy bow to hold. After awhile she wanted to go walk and look for deer so we quietly walked the along the edge of the yard but she wanted to go into the woods so we walked back to where one of my ladder stands is and she climbed right up my stand without any hesitation and stood up on the platform for a few minutes. All in all the two of us had a successful hunt.

I'm looking to find more time to get back up and give it another try but the next few weekends are already tied up and I'm out of town for a week in there as well.

Its been a tough season for free time so I haven't been in the stand since the first week in October. Since I've been losing most of my public land to logging the last few years I'm giving up my rifle hunt this year and instead spending rifle opener weekend in the stand with my bow. My private land is bow only within city limits so doesn't really change much for me other than legally being required to wear blaze orange. Although I'll probably be in a ground blind so not sure even that really matters.

Best part is I'll be bringing my 3 year old daughter again so I'll get another chance to build her exposure. More so than for myself or for the meat I want to get a deer so that she can be exposed to the whole process.

A lot of good movement all afternoon on Friday but they all took the western trail around a lowland area and I was hunting the more well worn eastern trail.

Seeing a lot of deer on cam and they are starting to come in closer to shooting hours. Also had a new monster buck show up on cam. He dwarfs the previous big guy which is saying something since the previous one was a big 9 with some decent mass. The new guy is a huge 8 but looks like he has a few kickers that may score so he could go 10 or 12 but it was hard to tell from the pictures we got.

Still got some more time to get things done. Looking to make another trip in the next few weeks.

Crazy amazing weather though this weekend. No coats needed in the afternoon and Saturday morning I didn't even need to wear my gloves. Only bad part was the mosquitoes that are still around, killed plenty of them but there was no meat left to salvage and they make lousy shoulder mounts.